Tibet Crisis

ELIYAHU GURFINKEL | THE ANN ARBOR NEWSDr. Pema Dorje is a Tibetan who lives in Ann Arbor with his family.

"(The Chinese communists) just have no knowledge of letting democratic principals prevail," he said. "There's no freedom of religion, and that's affecting people in a big way."

That view will be countered in Ann Arbor this weekend by local Chinese students, who plan to hold a peaceful demonstration at Crisler Arena to call attention to the Chinese view of the Tibet turmoil. Organizers expect hundreds of students to hand out informational material during the Dalai Lama's appearances.

Their main objective, said U-M Ph.D student Wei Huang, is to remind Americans that there are two sides to the conflict in Tibet, and that the Chinese side is seldom heard here.

"You see the news on TV, and they'll have debate about issues, and both sides will appear," he said. "But for the issues related to China, like the Tibetan issue, you won't see any Chinese there."

Gelek Rimpoche, a native Tibetan who is founder of Jewel Heart, an Ann Arbor Tibetan Buddhist center, said the crux of the political conflict in Tibet focuses on the Chinese holding all positions of leadership, which he said is a form of racism. The top leaders in government departments are always Chinese, he said.

"(The Dalai Lama) is very concerned this thing will get out of hand," Rimpoche says of the clash between Chinese authorities and Tibetan citizens.

LEISA THOMPSON | THE ANN ARBOR NEWSJewel Heart founder and spiritual director Gehlek Rimpoche gives a talk at the new Jewel Heart Tibetan Buddhist Learning Center in Pittsfield Township on Tuesday

Tibetans are not a violent people, he said, "but if you chase a dog enough into a corner, every so often the dog has to bite."

Huang said he and the other Chinese students believe that most of the violence in Tibet is caused by the Tibetans in exile, not the Chinese. Huang said cultural differences are sometimes the cause of what is perceived to be human rights violations. He said the reason Tibetans have lower stature in Tibet is attributed to their devout religious beliefs, whereas the Chinese tend to be less religious and more interested in commerce.

Youjian Chi, 23, a U-M graduate student, said the protestors - who are expected to come from universities throughout Michigan - want a more peaceful Tibet.

"It's our responsibility as Chinese students to tell them the facts," said Chi, who has a collection of photographs and news articles full of mistakes made by CNN, showing what he says is bias toward Tibetans and against the Chinese. "We just want our voice heard on the campus."

Graduate student Jinhui Chen said he wants politics kept out of the Olympics.

"We need to improve understanding between the Chinese and American people," he said. "Misunderstanding always causes trouble."

The Dalai Lama almost certainly will address the uprisings in Tibet during his three lectures on engaging wisdom and compassion, said Rimpoche.

He said he welcomes the non-violent protests by the Chinese students because freedom of speech belongs to everyone. He said he does not expect the demonstrations will interfere with the programs.
Reporter Jo Collins Mathis can be reached at 734-994-6849 or jmathis@annarbornews.com.

The number of local Tibetans living in Ann Arbor can be counted on one hand ... or maybe two, if you count Dorje's three children, Rimpoche joked. The local Tibetans see each other occasionally, usually as they celebrate the New Year together, he said.

The political aspects of the Dalai Lama's visit are clearly secondary for some who will attend.

Dawa Dorje Lama, a waiter at Shalimar restaurant in downtown Ann Arbor, has lived in the city two years. He saw the Dalai Lama in India a few years ago and has tickets to hear him both Saturday and Sunday at Crisler.

Asked why he's eager for the Dalai Lama's arrival, he answered simply: "I am Buddhist."

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Comments
halflight says...
Someone needs to ask the Chinese graduate students whether they would be able to organize hundreds of students to protest a speaker in China without permission from the Public Security Bureau. There's the crux of the matter, and the irony can't be lost on them. The Chinese government is only less repressive with the Han than it is with the Tibetans; overall, there's a lack of civil liberties and ways for the common people to express their political opinions. Resentment builds social pressure until the result is violence. Every Chinese citizen needs greater civil liberties, not just the Tibetans.

Posted on 04/17/08 at 11:55AM
mivoice says...
Have you ever been in China? You better go there first before post comment!

Posted on 04/17/08 at 3:37PM
wonwon says...
protest a speaker in US needs a permission from the Public Security Bureau too.

Posted on 04/17/08 at 3:49PM
wonwon says...
Protest in US needs a permission from Public Security Bureau too.

Posted on 04/17/08 at 3:51PM
yandreams says...
http://www.etext.org/Politics/MIM/faq/tibet.html

This is a link for people who are not quite familiar with Tibet issue and are eager to know more.

I think it is informational and objective.

I am apolitical. I think what Dr. Pema Dorje said about religion freedom in China is bias. It is true that there was no freedom of religion 20 or 30 years ago in China, but it has definitely changed a lot now. What does religion freedom mean? No matter what it means in your definition, it shouldn't mean that you are empowered to build an independent country.

My parents have over 40 years of combined experience working in Tibet.
They have seen the changes with their own eyes. Tibetans' current living conditions are much better than 50 years ago and who can say that it is irrelevant with Chinese government's favorit policy towards Tibet? Chinese government is sure not perfect. But it kept sending lots of engineers in all areas , doctors, and teachers to help Tibetans. Please note, these well educated people are helpers, not invaders. For people who work in Tibet(both Han Chinese and Tibetans), they generally get paid much more than other people who hold the same level, same type of jobs but in other provinces of China. There are numerous policies which were set up specifically to benefit Tibetan. With all that said, I am proud of Chinese government for what it has done for Tibetans. All I have written here are truth, and only truth. They are from my parents' and my own experience.

Posted on 04/17/08 at 3:55PM
yandreams says...
French senator tells you the truth about Tibet
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLTm0xrG-v4

Posted on 04/17/08 at 4:56PM
linhuazhi says...
"Peace", "Non-Violence", "Dialogue", these are beautiful words, right?

But, wait, before read on, let's think about it, what's the meaning of "non-violence"?

Now, let's check with the definition of "Non-violence" defined by Dalai Lama, let's see if it is the same as yours.

[Link: http://www.rfi.fr/actucn/articles/100/article_6734.asp]
On April 2nd, 2008,in an interview with Radio France International's Chinese language program, Dawa Tsering, an Additional Secretary in the Department of Information and International Relations of Dalai's Tibetan Government-in-Exile, answered a question about why the Dalai Lama has not condemned the violent actions of rioters during the unrest. Speaking in Chinese, Dawa Tsering stated that:
"
First of all, I must make it clear that the Tibetan (rioters) has been non-violent throughout (the incident). From Tibetans' perspective, violence means harming life. From the video recordings you can see that the Tibetans rioters were beating Han Chinese, but only beating took place. After the beating the Han Chinese were free to flee. Therefore [there were] only beating, no life was harmed. Those who were killed were all results of accidents. From recordings shown by the Chinese Communist government, we can clearly see that when Tibetan [rioters] were beating on their doors, the Han Chinese all went into hiding upstairs. When the Tibetan [rioters] set fire to the buildings, the Han Chinese remained in hiding instead of escaping, the result is that these Han Chinese were all accidentally burnt to death. Those who set and spread the fire, on the other hand, had no idea whatsoever that there were Han Chinese hiding upstairs. Therefore not only were Han Chinese burnt to death, some Tibetans were burnt to death too. Therefore all these incidents were accidents, not murder.
"

Now, think again. Is it the same "non-violence" in your mind when you heard the beautiful word from Dalai Lama?

Non-Violence, Beautiful, right?

Posted on 04/17/08 at 6:54PM
noignorant says...
yandreams claim to be apolitical but seems to propogate maost international movement and suggest people to get information about tibet from this link. You dont have to go far to get true information about tibet; just google it, now dont say that google is biased too. Actually google helped blocked lot of informations about tibet in china. Religious freedom is religious freedom, it is as simple as that. Religious freedom is definitely not to gain independence of a country. It is basic right to believe, talk and pray ones religion freely. Even reincarnation of high lamas has to be appointed by communist party leaders, just keeping dalai lama picture lands you in jail, where is Penchen lama disappeared since age 6, where is tulku deleck rinpoche and you still say there is religious freedom.

Any country would have improved at least so much for 50 years. China in the name of favoring tibet helped massive migration of population into tibet with every kind of insentives, example for 18 months of work thery 3 months of vacation to go back to china, apart higher pay and housing help, high altitude allowance etc. Naturally locals dont get those. By late early as much as 10 million chinese migrated into the tibet of estimated 6 millions people out of which 1.2 million tibetans died as a direct result of occupation since 1949/50. Where are your doctors? govt budget outlya is only 10% for the rural and 90% for the urban areas where chinese settlers are concentrated. Educational discrimination; just to give an example out of 2450 primary schools only about 450 govt funded. All the developements with infrastructure actually benefited mainly to chinese settlers. Chinese govt always thinks, acts and forces their version as only truth. Why dont you open tibet and let people see and decide themselves but again they will say biased.

Posted on 04/17/08 at 7:44PM
keyword1 says...
Gelek Rimpoche's comment about no tibetans in TAR government is wrong. Actually more than 40% of the leaders are Tibetans.
see here if you can read chinese:
http://www.xizang.gov.cn/getCommonContent.do?contentId=353408
or you can google to find information in english.

Among them, there is the governor of TAR, six lieutenant governors out of a total of 13 lieutenant governors,

There are also tibetans in all levels of government of TAR.

Posted on 04/17/08 at 8:53PM
peace4peace says...
"peace", "non violence" and "dialogue" are indeed beautiful not only in words but deeds. I am sure these people wouldnt have resorted to such desparate acts if dalai lama was in tibet and had control over them. If you dont learn non violence, peace and dialogue from dalai lama, atleast learn from this country, including freedom of speech which you are exercising in this country

Posted on 04/17/08 at 9:02PM
keyword1 says...
noignorant,

Freedom is not unlimited. espically combined with a theocracy government led by Dalai lama.

Dorje Shugden, one god of tibetan buddhism, who actually guided Dalai's flee to india in 1959, now is banned by Dalai Lama.
His followers recently filed a court case in India and accuse Dalai for their right of religious freedom. They will also protest again Dalai lama all around the world according to their claim.

A video shot by swiss is here:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=n5sOm-uQH9Y

We will see if Dalai lama is willing to give them their religious freedom.

By the way, Dorje Shugden can be worshipped in Tibet, China.

Posted on 04/17/08 at 9:07PM
keyword1 says...
noignorant, I believe you have never been to Tibet. did you?
94% of population in TAR is tibetan, only 6% are han and islamic enthnic people. your number is completely wrong. go to look at BBC's " a year in tibet", you will hear a normal tibetan civilian told you how much their medical bill is reimbursed. Now I heard its even better cause they only need to pay 2-5 dollars a year to get medical insurance. How much we have to pay in USA? Tibetan peasants never pay tax while han peasants used to pay pretty heavy tax.

I suggest you go to tibet by yourself if you are really interested in helpping Tibetans.

Posted on 04/17/08 at 9:16PM
keyword1 says...
peace4peace,

Are you suggesting a theocracy in tibet led by Dalai lama. and you think it was Shrigari-La when Dalai lama was in power before 1959?

You are completely wrong. It was a serfdom system back to then. 5% of the population are nobels and slave masters who own all the lands and resources, including monateries, and Dalai Lama himself. The rest of 95% tibetans are serfs (almost slaves). they are born to be serfs hereditarily. if they leave their lands without lord's permission, lord will send people to capture them, and punish them later including but not limited to eye gouging, hand/feet chopping.

Do you think all the tibetans living in TAR, who's fathers and grandfathers were slaves under Dalai lama want Dalai to return?

Some more information, Dalai lama is only the religious leader for one out of eight buddhism sects in Tibet -- yellow hat. I don't think all other people worship other sects want him back to lead the tibet government again if some people in his sect do.

Posted on 04/17/08 at 9:25PM
mivoice says...
noignorant, listen to keyword 1, go to tibet to help tibetans, not just posting here.

Posted on 04/17/08 at 9:50PM
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